New Israeli NGO supports global democracy and a world parliament

22. November 2016

Event of “One World – Movement for Global Democracy” in Tel Aviv

Oded Gilad speaking at the event in Tel Aviv

Recently a new group was established in Israel to promote “democratic political processes at all levels.” At their latest event in Tel Aviv on October 25th One World’s co-founder and director Oded Gilad presented the vision of a “federal world system” in which “all countries, and all people, are represented at the global level in a world parliament.”

Speaking to an audience of around 40 people Gilad explained how “the many malfunctions of Israeli democracy” are rooted in a gulf between “the local scale of our democratic mechanisms and the global scale of market forces” because “consumers and investors are able to operate and unite on a global level, while citizens are restrained by the fact of their citizenship and are limited by the borders of their states.”

According to Gilad, “it is this imbalance of power in the current global social structure that poses one of the greatest and least addressed threats to the democratic institutions in all democratic states. Expecting local states and their officials to properly check and balance global market forces is a highly naive and idealistic approach.” As “the best possible step” into the direction of closing this gap, Gilad endorsed the creation of a UN Parliamentary Assembly as this would provide the citizens of the world with “a representative framework for uniting their power” at the global level.

One of the goals of One World is to advance the international Campaign for a UN Parliamentary Assembly in Israel by building support in the parliament and by carrying out general education. To date, seven current and former members of the Israeli parliament have endorsed the campaign’s appeal for a UN Parliamentary Assembly: Uri Avnery, Yossi Beilin, Zahava Galon, Dov Khenin, Haim Oron, Ibrahim Sarsur, and Tamar Zandberg. One World calls on the Israeli government to endorse steps towards a UN Parliamentary Assembly.

The event in Tel Aviv was held as part of this year’s Global Week of Action for a World Parliament.